World’s Edge, the Xbox Game Studios team behind Age of Empires, has reportedly lost just under half its staff as part of the studio’s move from Xbox’s direct control into Activision’s structure. The World’s Edge layoffs are the latest confirmed fallout from Microsoft’s ongoing Xbox Reset, the restructuring programme the company detailed in a post titled Continuing our reset earlier this week.
Microsoft’s announcement named Activision as the new home for both Halo and Age of Empires development but did not say how many World’s Edge staff would be affected. That gap has since been filled by people inside the studio. An unnamed but verified creative director posted on the forum ResetEra that just under half the studio was let go in the transition, and multiple outlets have independently corroborated the substance of that account.
What the World’s Edge layoffs cost the studio
Beyond headcount, the cuts reportedly claimed a new, unannounced game project that World’s Edge had in development. As TechPowerUp reported, the studio’s former Studio Creative Director, Adam Isgreen, confirmed his own departure in a message posted on LinkedIn, and other senior staff have acknowledged leaving in the same round. None of the coverage puts a precise headcount on World’s Edge before or after the cuts, so just under half remains the only figure in circulation, sourced to that single ResetEra post rather than to Microsoft or Activision directly.
Age of Empires is not the only franchise absorbed into Activision to come out smaller. Halo Studios has been cut to fewer than 20 remaining employees, according to an insider source cited by TechPowerUp. Microsoft’s own announcement had said only that a small team would stay at Halo Studios to support Activision on future Halo development, without giving a number. If the fewer-than-20 figure holds, it puts a concrete size on what small meant.
Why this keeps happening under the Xbox Reset
teqpost has covered the broader Xbox restructuring that folded Halo development into Activision and cut 268 roles, including the closure of Ninja Theory, so the pattern of studios losing staff on the way into a new corporate structure is now consistent across at least three teams rather than a one-off. Microsoft has not published a studio-by-studio breakdown of the layoffs, which is why the fullest picture keeps coming from creative directors and staff posting directly on LinkedIn and ResetEra rather than from company statements.
None of the outlets covering this have secured confirmation from Microsoft or Activision on the exact World’s Edge headcount, before or after the cuts. That absence of an official number is itself notable: it means the public record for one of Microsoft’s most commercially significant strategy franchises rests on a single anonymous forum post rather than a disclosed figure.
What to watch next
Two things would firm this up: an official headcount from Activision or Microsoft for World’s Edge, and confirmation of whether the cancelled project was a new Age of Empires entry or something unrelated to the existing series. Neither has surfaced yet. Until it does, the studio’s near-term Age of Empires roadmap, and whether the remaining team can sustain it, stays an open question.
